Materials
Materials are small elements that can be found from a variety of sources that can be used to maintain or enhance the abilities of your ship and SRV.
They do not take up space in cargo racks.[1] Instead, materials have a separate inventory, and are only stored in tiny quantities. The maximum that can be carried at once is 1000 units of materials and 500 units of data.
Materials remain available when switching between vehicles, and in the case of vehicle destruction they are saved by the pilot's escape system.
They are currently used for 2 main purposes: Synthesis and Engineering.
Material Categories
Materials can be classified into 1 of 3 categories:
- Raw Materials: Naturally occurring chemical elements.
- Manufactured Materials: Salvageable components.
- Data: From scanning various sources.
Material Grades
Within each material category, materials come in 5 different grades representing their rarity, with rarer materials providing greater effects when used.
| Symbol | Grade | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Very Common | |
| 2 | Common | |
| 3 | Standard | |
| 4 | Rare | |
| 5 | Very Rare |
Raw Materials
Raw materials are basic, naturally occurring, chemical elements. They are used in synthesis and in many Engineer Blueprints.
Raw Material Sources
Material sources on planets and moons can be located by use of the Wave Scanner of an SRV. When they are destroyed by weapons fire from a ship or SRV they explode into chunks of materials, which can be collected using a ship or SRV's Cargo Scoop.
The type of materials vary depending on the geology of the body, the type of world it is and where it is situated.[2] As well as sources which are natural parts of the body, there are meteorites which fell from space, cargo racks of downed ships, and perhaps other more mysterious sources to be found (e.g. alien structures).
Sources discovered so far are:
- Outcrop
- Meteorites:
- Geysers
- Fumaroles
- Organic Structures
- Cargo Rack
- Asteroids
- When a prospector reports on an asteroid's content, it will also show it's 'Material Content' - Low, Medium, or High. The higher the material content, the higher the likelihood of it dropping rare materials.
List of Raw Materials
| Name | Grade | Found in | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antimony | Very Rare | ||
| Arsenic | Standard | ||
| Cadmium | Rare | ||
| Carbon | Very common | ||
| Chromium | Common | ||
| Germanium | Common | ||
| Iron | Very common | ||
| Manganese | Common | ||
| Mercury | Rare | ||
| Molybdenum | Rare | ||
| Nickel | Very common | ||
| Niobium | Standard | ||
| Phosphorus | Very common | ||
| Polonium | Very Rare | ||
| Ruthenium | Rare | ||
| Selenium | Standard | ||
| Sulphur | Very common | ||
| Technetium | Very Rare | ||
| Tellurium | Very rare | ||
| Tin | Rare | ||
| Tungsten | Standard | ||
| Vanadium | Common | ||
| Yttrium | Rare | ||
| Zinc | Common | ||
| Zirconium | Common |
Manufactured Materials
Manufactured materials are salvaged components used only in Engineer Blueprints.
Manufactured Material Sources
Manufactured materials can be provided as mission rewards, salvaged from destroyed ships, or from a variety of signal sources.
Degraded Emissions
The most common type of signal source, found almost anywhere in populated space - shipping lanes, deep space, planetary orbit, etc...
Contains: basic loot, such as common manufactured materials and cargo canisters.
Encoded Emissions
A less frequently occurring signal source type, found almost anywhere in populated space.
Contains: a Private Data Beacon (or sometimes a satellite, when found around populated Earthlike worlds) which can be scanned for a random data reward, along with common and rare materials.
High Grade Emissions
A rare signal type found in deep space, or around planets, of populated systems. To find one, travel 200 LS above the orbital plane of any populated star system. Your location should show you as being in 'Deep Space'. High grade emissions will spawn here along with other signal types. Higher population system spawn signal types more frequently.
Contains: Contains 3-5 units of very rare materials appropriate to the system state and government.
Combat Aftermath
A signal type found only in Shipping Lanes (the direct route from the current system's primary star to a Starport).
Contains: 5-8 materials of varying grades from a destroyed ship.
List of Manufactured Materials
Data
Data is gathered by scanning various technological sources. It is stored in a separate data store, up to a maximum of 500 units.
Data Sources
Data can be acquired by scanning various suitable source types:
Ships
Target any ship (either in Supercruise or sub-light speeds) and centre it in your field of view. Your ship will scan it automatically, and sometimes you will receive data.
Data Beacons
Found in Encoded Emissions signal sources amongst destroyed ship debris. Target it and centre it in your field of view. Your ship will scan it automatically, and you will receive data (sometimes rare or very rare).
Satellites
Found in Encoded Emissions signal sources around populated Earthlike worlds, or at some installations. As with ships, target it and centre it in your field of view. Your ship will scan it automatically, and you will receive data (often rare or very rare).
Planetary Outposts
Planetary outposts (not Starports) typically have 1 or more data points that can be scanned with your SRV's Data Link Scanner. They come in 3 security levels (Low, Medium, High) and 3 sizes (Small '+', Medium '++', and Large '+++'). Higher security outposts provide rarer data, but also have stronger defences.
Surface Scan Missions
Some missions will require you to scan the data point of a nearby small settlement not otherwise listed in your navigation panel. These settlements can only be found as mission targets, and the data point scan will often produce rare and very rare data.
Wakes
Frame shift drive wakes are a source of frame shift related data. You must scan the wake with a Frame Shift Wake Scanner to retrieve this data.
Mission Rewards
Some missions offer data as part of the mission rewards. It is difficult to predict what missions are available at starports, let alone predict what data will be provided as a reward, so it is not recommended that you rely on these when looking for specific data types. Nevertheless, they are a useful way to acquire data when not looking for specific data types.